Kerosene
by de yaten
Summary: Axel peered into the bright blue eyes and wondered if they would light up like Roxas' had under the flickering flame of his Zippo lighter. Burn, baby, burn. Insane asylum AU. Dark. Oneshot. :: AxelxSora ::


Title: Kerosene

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: Oneshot. Real world AU. Mentions of violence (self-injury, burns, suicide—but nothing graphic) and some bad language. Note that "Staff" is a generic term used for employees in some mental institutions and in this fic. Reviews are awesome, especially if you favorite it, and they make my day. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. I don't claim to own them.

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Axel was sprawled on his stomach across the only long couch in the TV Room, staring intently at his fingers as he laced them together. His attention was broken when a slender boy, clad in the asylum-mandatory white shirt and slacks, was ushered in from the hallway. The boy—14, maybe 15, Axel thought—was accompanied by a female Staff who was all smiles and reassuring touches to the shoulder. He looked nervous and was clutching his small suitcase so hard that his knuckles blanched white. The Staff pried the handle from his fingertips—more kind words, a gesture toward the worn-out couches and a decade old TV—and left him to stand awkwardly in the open space.

Axel peered with green eyes as the new kid stood still with his arms stiffly at his sides. He knew that look very well. Most of the new victims—patients, the admonishing Staff reminded him—gave the same look. That "oh shit what have I gotten myself into, can I call my parents and have them come get me?" That was, of course, assuming the kid still had parents. A few of the kids here had _killed _their parents, so the likelihood of dear ol' mom and dad swooping in to rescue them was very unlikely.

But Axel didn't think this new one had done anything very violent. At least against someone else. Even at first glance, white scars could be seen peeking out from his sleeves, rows of horizontal lines that continued to the edge of a bony wrist. He looked nervous, which only added to the evidence that he hadn't done anything particularly horrible to wind up here. The _really _fucked up ones acted like they didn't care and strode into the place with lips in tight, smug grins.

The bright blue eyes glanced around until his they came to rest on Axel, and finally on the extra space Axel's legs were currently occupying. The older boy smirked and hoisted himself into a sitting position, patting the now empty spot next to him. The kid pushed a stray brown lock behind his ears and slowly approached the couch. He exhaled the breath he had been holding and sat down.

"So," Axel began, scooting closer to the boy, "what's your name, blue eyes?"

"S…Sora. What's you—"

The redhead cut him off by grabbing a slender wrist and twisting it slightly. "You went the wrong way, you know. Down the road, not across the street."

Sora's face flushed and he tugged his arm away before giving the other boy a glare. "I-I wasn't trying to kill myself."

Axel grinned and licked chapped lips. "A cutter, eh? Roxas was a cutter too." Axel paused. "Roxas was my old roomie, but he's not here anymore."

Sora was glad to change the subject, and brought both his legs up on the couch to cross them. "Why? What happened to him?"

For a second the brunette saw something flicker in the emerald eyes—maybe sadness, but there was a glitter there that Sora didn't recognize, something that made them shiny and dark and definitely not because they were full of tears.

"He hung himself two weeks ago. Dunno why."

Sora flinched and looked away, and spoke without meeting the other's gaze. "So… what are you in for?" He tried to sound casual, and the thought made him smile a little, considering he was currently stuck in an asylum.

"I burn people."

"You burn—what?" Sora sputtered and turned to face him, eyes disbelieving but now unable to look away.

"People. Humans. Homosapiens. I burn them until they're begging for me to just kill them already… men, women, children. It doesn't matter to me, I'll burn 'em all."

Sora's eyes widened at this and he began to edge himself closer to the end of the sofa. "I…uh…"

"Naw, I lied." Axel paused and leaned as close to Sora as he dared with a Staff in the room. "I only burn pretty pretty boys like you." His tongue darted out to lap at Sora's earlobe. "You taste fucking delicious, you know that? Like that fancier-than-thou thirty dollar European chocolate that you gotta import from France. I wonder if burnt chocolate will taste this good."

Sora shot a desperate glance at the nearby Staff, who sat down a book he had been reading with a sigh and strode over to the boys with heavy boot steps.

Axel frowned against Sora's earlobe and pulled away. "You're no fun, blue eyes."

The Staff crossed his arms. "Are we having trouble here, boys?"

Axel grinned and waved the man nonchalantly away. "No trouble, no trouble! I was just introducing myself to the fresh meat." He stuck out a hand to the trembling brunette, as if he hadn't just threatened to cause the boy bodily harm. "The name's Axel, pleased to meet 'ya." He placed a thin arm around Sora, and pulled until their shoulders knocked against each other. He gave the Staff an exaggerated smile. "This is Sora, my new roomie—"

The brunette froze and didn't bother to hide the fear in his voice. "Your _what_?"

The Staff looked up from flipped papers in his clipboard, running his fingers down a list until he came upon a name scrawled in pencil. "Oh, that's right. I forgot we were getting a new one today. I thought maybe you had been moved up from a different ward. Well," he said, rubbing his fingers together and flipping another page, "I hope you'll last longer than Axel's other roommates."

Sora blanched and Axel only tightened his grip across the boy's neck. He eyed the Staff teasingly. "Are you saying I'm a bad roommate?"

The Staff snorted. "Don't cause any problems for this new kid, or we'll give you a shot of Seroquel and throw you in solitary for a week."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Axel said with a lopsided grin, "cause you always make sure to jam that needle nice and hard in my ass." Axel turned his head to the side and whispered in Sora's ear. "This one's a bit of a perv, if you get my drift. You better watch out for him."

The Staff rolled his eyes and walked back to his station, making sure that Axel was watching as he made a citation for negative behavior towards a Staff in his file.

The redhead waited for the man to pick up his neglected book before swinging his legs up and around to hook them around Sora's waist, freeing the boy's shoulder but effectively trapping him in Axel's lap.

Sora squirmed and tried to push himself out of the tight grip of Axel's legs. Just what the hell was wrong with this kid! One minute he's threatening to burn him—and who knows what else?—and the next he's warning him about some pervo nurse that wants to stick him in the ass.

Axel giggled and used his legs to pull Sora closer to him, until the younger boy was forced to fall against the lithe chest. He giggled more when he saw the brunette's cheeks flush, and gripped the slender, scarred wrists with his own. "Don't struggle so much, Sora. You'll make the Staff come over here, and that would make me very, very," and his voice lowered, the way it had when he had threatened Sora, "_very_ unhappy."

"You're _crazy_."

Axel flashed his teeth in a grin, and pushed Sora off the couch, kicking his legs up to claim the extra space. "Thanks, Sora." He laced his hands behind his head casually and glanced toward the startled boy—who had caught himself with his hands during the fall, but had yet to move from the floor. "But you do realize that you're a _patient _here too, right? That makes you just as crazy."

Sora swallowed the thick lump in his throat and shook his head. "I'm not crazy—" he ignored it when Axel threw back his head and laughed—"I just need some _help _with stuff, and my parents thought—"

"Your _parents_," Axel said, turning to look at the brunette, "just wanted you off their hands. Let someone else deal with you for a while. Y'know," he turned on his side and leaned his chin against the palm of his hand, "I bet they were really _embarrassed _when they found out what you were doing. That's why they sent you here." He widened his eyes dramatically, stretching the tear drop tattoos on his cheek, and put on a fake falsetto. "Oh husband, what should we do? What would the neighbors think if they found out about this?! Our son, our little Sora, is a little freak! He's doing these… _terrible thi__ngs to __hims_

He was stopped by an unexpected sharp cuff to the nose, causing his vision to blur and tears to involuntarily run past his tattoos. He opened them in time to see Sora with a furious look in his eyes, being escorted away by a Staff. It gave Axel no satisfaction to see _which _Staff was whisking him away, because at _most_, he would have to fill out an Aggression Table and _maybe_ write Axel a one-page apology on that ridiculous stationary this particular Staff stocked.

It was the same bleeding heart female from earlier, the one who kissed patient's boo-boos (even though they gave themselves the boo-boos) and told them bedtime stories if they couldn't sleep (even though the drugs they took because they gave themselves boo-boos was what kept them up) and acted like they were _children _(even though some of them had done things the monster's in fairy tales could only _dream _of doing). Axel made it his personal mission to crack her, but he had yet to be able to get so much as a harsh word from her lips. She responded to insults with a cheery smile, and threats of bodily harm just made her switch into therapist mode and talk to him in that hush-hush, do-you-want-to-talk-about-your-feelings tone of voice.

Well, Axel thought, feeling something new begin to stir in the pit of his stomach. Maybe if he messed with Sora, she would change her tune.

Not that messing with Sora wouldn't have its own rewards, cheery Staff bitch or no.

Sora was different. Most people didn't hit _him_, because they were afraid he would hurt them back. Their fears were grounded, of course, and he considered a night or two in solitary a fine trade-off for being able to burn someone until they squealed like a pig.

Speaking of pig… he hoped his nose hadn't been damaged. He gently pushed at the sensitive area with his hand, and brought his fingers back in surprise when he felt something slick there. Blood. Now _this_, he mused, was definitely unusual. Only one other person had made him bleed before—Roxas. Roxas with those Sora eyes and sandy blonde hair, and the same white scars peeking out from the standard-issue white cotton t-shirt.

He didn't have too much time to dwell on the thought, as he found himself being hauled to the Nurse's Station by one of the new interns, who introduced herself and had that cookie cutter look of concern on her face. He never bothered to let the intern's names stick, because they usually left in tears within two weeks and the ones that stayed were either disgustingly helpful (like that smiling bitch) or cheerfully sadistic (like the sweetheart who gave him a bruise on his ass from that damn needle) and he found it best to avoid both types of Staff.

Axel forced his arms to stay still when the nurse sat him down on one of the blue padded tables and wiped at his nose with a Kleenex. He usually refused to be touched, and on more than one occasion he took a swipe at the nurse. But those occasions usually resulted in a shot and a half day of sleeping, and he wanted to be very awake when he got back to his room. And Sora.

He grunted when the nurse pinched at his nose and gave a deep sigh.

"Well," she said, pursing her lips. "It doesn't look broken, it's just a little bruised and sore. The bleeding should stop fairly quickly, but I want to see you back tomorrow to check on it, okay?" She gave a practiced smile and Axel said nothing as the intern led him back to the TV Room. Sora was nowhere to be found, but that was okay—there was _plenty _of time for them to get to know each other later on.

Axel found a spot on the floor near the only clock in the room and watched the minutes go by. He had a few hours before he'd be allowed back in his room. There was dinner (six to seven thirty) and the last check in of the day (seven thirty to eight) before they were supposed to take their sleeping pills (he would hide them under his tongue, he thought, and Sora probably wouldn't get any medication until he could be evaluated) and then he could go back to the room, where Sora would be waiting.

The kid was probably going to be nervous—and he should be, Axel knew, because he had a few hours in which to think of some lovely punishments for making Axel bleed. He could always do the same thing he did to Roxas, since they already had so much in common. The thought made him want to groan, but that intern's eyes were glued to him and he didn't feel like another barrage of questions. And it wasn't like he could explain that he had been thinking about the way Roxas' eyes _literally _lit up when Axel had held the lighter flame against them.

But Roxas had it coming, Axel thought, because he had swiped at the redhead with a razor blade even though Axel had been very _very_ nice to him and only burned the blonde's arms when he got bored. But he would never forget the sight of the red flames licking at the blue eyes. It was fucking _amazing_, and even the drugs and the solitary and the trial-run electricity therapy couldn't make him regret it.

If Sora was at least half as fun as Roxas, Axel hoped he would last for a _long_ time.


End file.
